Page 69 of Pawns of Fate
But when they turned around, they screamed. The hulking monster was in front of them. Bipedal, with a human torso but canine legs and a wolf’s head, easily seven feet tall, the werewolf was more terrifying than the troll. Rose shuddered. Blood covered its snout. She desperately hoped it wasn’t Lyla’s.
The girls ran, narrowly avoiding the wolf’s lunge. It was toying with them, Rose realized, allowing them to escape. As they fled, pushing their feet harder than ever, the wolf would close the gap, swipe at their heels, and slink back a short way, still following them. It was enjoying the hunt.
Rose let out one sob of desperation, then continued running, holding hands with Ava. At least she would die in the company of a friend, though her heart saddened when she thought about Ava dying, too.
They reached a cliff. Had the werewolf herded them here? In the dark, she couldn’t tell how far down the edge reached, but she could faintly hear running water. Should they take their chances and jump?
She and Ava held each other and let out a few cries as the wolf, savoring the despair of its victims, drew closer. Rose closed her eyes.
A claw scraped her skin. Teeth would follow soon, she knew. They would rip her throat out and tear her flesh to shreds.
But before the werewolf could reach her, Rose heard the crack of thunder. A lightning spell struck the monster. The smell of charred fur filled her nose.
York Sharp, brandishing a longsword, threw himself in between them and the now gravely injured werewolf.
The beast lunged. York’s longsword caught it, stabbing it through the heart. But he didn’t stop all of the wolf’s momentum. The creature still fell onto Rose, pushing her to the absolute edge of the cliff.
Rose tried desperately to hold her precarious balance. She heard Ava scream and saw the fear in York’s eyes as he reached for her a second too late. Rose flung her hands out, desperately trying to grab onto something, anything. But the rocks gave way, and she toppled over the edge.
For just a moment, all Rose could hear was the wind rushing past her ears. Again, she closed her eyes to avoid looking death in the face. Just when she expected to meet the ground’s terrible embrace, she found herself floating, suspended and motionless. The familiar feeling of nausea in reaction to magic invaded her stomach. The spell released quickly. She dropped into firm arms and slid against cold metal armor. The cool sensation felt pleasant against her overheated skin.
“Rose! Rose!” a panicked male voice called out frantically. A gloved hand cupped her face.
Her eyes snapped open. Two blue orbs stared back at her.
“Nicholas!” Rose cried, overwhelmed with the joy of their reunion.
Chapter 22
NICHOLAS
He kissed her tears, then gently kissed her lips. Rose responded in kind, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him in to deepen the kiss. Closer, closer. He couldn’t be close enough to her right now.
Nicholas broke the kiss to ask, “Are you alright?” He ran a hand through her hair, cupping the back of her head and checking for himself.
“Yes, I’m alright,” Rose choked on a few sobs as she tried to dry her tears, then reached over with her sleeve and dried Nicholas’s. “I didn’t know you could perform levitationspells.”
“He can’t,” a blunt voice said from behind them.
Rose and Nicholas turned around.
“Syzman! Where’s Lyla?” Rose asked eagerly.
A dark, panicked look flashed across the assassin’s face.
“She’s not up there with Ava and York?”
“No, we separated. Lyla bought us time by fighting the three werewolves on her own.”
“Three?” Syzman’s voice cracked, and his eyes widened.
“Yes. I suppose there are only two now, but we heard at least three howls. Lyla didn’t have very much mana after teleporting the three of us out of the city, so she told us to run for the border village while she took care of the monsters.”
Syzman didn’t even bother with a goodbye as he sprinted into the foothills.
“Don’t worry too much. Syzman will find her,” Nicholas stated confidently.
“I’m not worried that she’s lost. I’m worried that he’ll be too late.” Rose looked distressed. Nicholas remembered she hadn’t seen either Syzman or Lyla using the full extent of their capabilities.
